I am very passionate on cost cutting without sacrificing the quality of life. To maintain this fine balance is very important. 😊
Let’s talk about phone bill cost.
Frist, cut the landline. I know many of you have already done that. Congratulations! Big savings. Any recurring cost deserves close scrutiny because it can add up. Someone said that he hesitates to do so because the mobile phone cannot be connected during disaster. There was a snow storm a year ago in the city that brought down many powerlines which impacted some mobile phone connection. All his neighbours came to his house to use his phone for emergency. He felt the need to keep it. I understand where he came from. If he is not short on money, he can keep it. However, if he is living paycheque to paycheque without any emergency fund, I would highly recommend setting the financial priority right. Perhaps he can use his neighbour’s landline or find a payphone nearby ahead of time in case of emergency.
Second, switch mobile phone plan to prepaid. There are some new entrants in Canada that offer cheaper mobile phone plans, but some people feel that the network coverage is not good. They have a point certainly. You can switch to a prepaid mobile phone plan of one of 3 big carriers in Canada because their postpaid and prepaid use the same network. Some might ask what is the difference between postpaid and prepaid or what are they? The answer is self explanatory actually. For postpaid, you use first and then get charged afterwards when the bill cycle ends. For prepaid, you get charged first. That’s why phone company doesn’t do a credit check if you sign up for prepaid but will do so for postpaid customers. The other big difference is that prepaid plan is cheaper with less rich offers. However, these days, you can find unlimited nation-wide calling with unlimited text in prepaid for $30 with Telus. It includes 500 MB data plus another 500 MB data if you sign up for automatic payment with your credit card. In total, 1 GB data per month. If you use WiFi often, that is enough. Therefore, it is only $30 plus tax per month which is only less than 1/3 of the cost if you sign up for a postpaid mobile plan which is almost $100. Big savings every month. Of course, there are some drawbacks, you only have 3 voicemails, but it can be easily managed. It doesn’t offer international roaming, so I will just switch to postpaid when I travel overseas and then switch back to prepaid when I am back. Or I can just buy a local SIM when I arrive at the destination country.
I understand this is not for everyone. Just in case you might find it useful.
Good luck saving!
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